Dear Rita,
The first thing I wanted to do when Irene contacted me was to come to you. Run to you. But I can’t do that no matter how much I ached for you. And it makes me feel awful.
But I know that YOU of all people can understand my reason. It’s Robbie. I can’t leave him, Rita. He needs me. He is my son and he needs me.
I probably shouldn’t share this with you...but Roylene sent me a poem that Toby wrote to her. She didn’t understand the words...what he was trying to say. So she asked me to “translate” it for her.
I wish I had the right to share his poem in its entirety, but I don’t. I can, however, share with a clear conscience my own interpretation.
Toby is homesick. And he remembers his boyhood with a fondness you might not be able to fully grasp. What a life you made for him! And he’s afraid that he’s changed. Something must have happened to change him. His fear is that everything will be different, that there won’t be a home to come home to.
How will your boy find his way home without a talisman? And who better to be that talisman than his mother?
Rita. If you are still locked up in that house...throw open those windows and dust your boy’s bedroom. Wash his sheets and let them dry in the spring breeze. Do it all the time so when he comes home they are fresh. Make his favorite meals. Prepare for his homecoming.
Because Toby will come home. God won’t take them both. And when he comes home you damn well better be ready for him.
Get OUT of there, Rita Vincenzo! You are not dishonoring Sal by going on with life. You honor him by taking care of Toby.
Sal needs you to be prepared to take care of your son. His mind, his body. His soul. And you can’t take care of someone’s soul if yours is lost.
Write to me, Rita.
Write to me while you wash his things. Tell me how to care for my chickens. Yell at me about Robbie. Ask me for one of my speeches. Scold me about my wild hair. Tell me about the night you gave birth to Toby. Or day?
All of my love,
Glory
P.S. Robbie painted you a dove. Irene has it. If you want it, you better ask her for it.